Wisconsin girls basketball coach punches player, 17, after loss

FISHERS, Ind. — A Wisconsin girls basketball coach has been charged with battery after witnesses said he punched one of his teenage players in the face and threw her to the ground after a loss, police said Tuesday.

Fred Freeman, 47, of Hartford, Wis., faces the misdemeanor charge after the Monday incident, which involved a 17-year-old player from his traveling youth basketball team, at the Indiana Fieldhouse Sports Complex near Indianapolis.

“The victim told officers her basketball coach was verbally abusing her after the team lost their game,” Fishers police spokesman Officer Tom Weger said. “She reported that during a verbal altercation he punched her in the face, threw her to the ground and got on top of her with his hands around her throat.”